National Strategy for Senior Citizens
07-17-2018
Coinciding with Jordan's celebrations of the International Day of older persons, NCFA submitted to the government the updated National Strategy for Senior Citizens for the years 2018-2022. The strategy handed to the Minister of Social Development Hala Lattouf aims to scale-up the level of services offered to this age group.
It is to be noted that NCFA was established by a Royal decree under which HM King Abdullah II Bin Al-Hussein entrusted HM Queen Rania Al-Abdullah to preside over the council by virtue of Law No. (27) for the year 2001 with a view to enhance the standard of living and quality of life for the Jordanian family and its members be they children, women or elderly.
During the ceremony held in Dar Al-Diyafah Elderly Care Home, Secretary-General Fadel Al-Hmoud pointed out that the strategy is guided by our religious, Arab and human values centered on respect, warm-heartedness, bonds of kinship and intergenerational solidarity, and is based on national strategies, action plans, reports and studies relevant to the elderly.
He added that the most significant feature of the new strategy is that all age groups from all governorates including the elderly have had their share in its preparation incorporating their needs into the strategy's executive plan, emphasizing that it reflects a vision of a society in which the elderly enjoy positive aging that guarantees a decent living and involvement. Moreover it reflects a message that offers guarantees under which the elderly can enjoy their full rights with no discrimination, and vows to create dignified living standards that ensure human rights for each person in compliance with our religion, culture, society and best practices in this area.
According to Al-Hmoud, the formulation of the strategy has rested on a results-oriented methodology in line with international best practices in this field and is based on priority pillars and initiatives with corresponding measures to ensure their effective implementation. The first pillar is concerned with engaging the elderly in the development process by allowing them to take part in decision making at all levels, improving their living conditions, reducing their poverty rates in rural and the Badia areas, integrating elderly expats into society and guaranteeing them with continued learning and training.
The second pillar deals with the issue of elderly health care through the provision of preventive and curative health services. As for the third pillar, it revolves around the provision of a supportive physical and social environment for the elderly including through the provision of private residences and care homes that meet their needs; the adaptation of public buildings, facilities and transportation to be conducive to their needs; the provision of social services and support to care-providers of the elderly; the enhancement of their participation on society; the protection against violence; the enhancement of society's perception of the elderly; the advancement of intergenerational solidarity; and furtherance of the involvement of the private sector in this area.
To realize these pillars, an enabling environment has to be created that will ensure the development of a legislative and regulatory environment that is responsive to elderly key issues particularly with regard to participation in development, preparation of scientific research and studies that are responsive towards elderly issues and building of data bases for decision and policy makers.
